THE ARTISTS CINEMA 2010

Screens in Cannes 15 May and at cinemas across the UK alongside feature films Four Lions and The Ghostfrom May onwards
LUX and the Independent Cinema Office (ICO) are excited to announce a new series of artists’ film commissions for The Artists Cinema, a unique project which brings leading visual artists’ work into cinemas in subversive and playful ways, to a diverse and large-scale audience from May onwards with a special preview at Tate Modern on 16 April 2010 and screening at Cannes film festival, Saturday 15 May in the Market (MIF) 2pm and 3pm in the Palais des Festivals G screening room. The feature films confirmed to screen alongside them include Chris Morris’ controversial satire Four Lions and The political thriller The Ghost among others.

The seven international commissioned artists for The Artists Cinema 2010 are:

Keren Cytter (Israel) – The Coat

Aurélien Froment (France) – Pulmo Marina

Amar Kanwar (India) – A Love Story

Deimantas Narkevicius (Lithuania) – Ausgetraümt

Rosalind Nashashibi (UK) – This Quality

Catherine Sullivan with Farhad Sharmini (USA) – The Last Days of British Honduras

Akram Zaatari (Lebanon) – Tomorrow Everything will be Alright

Produced on 35mm, the commissions intervene in cinema programmes around the UK, inserted before the main feature, to consciously respond to the cinema context. The works approach the distinct conditions of the cinema, questioning, interpreting and reflecting on its special characteristics. Each of the works has been made specifically to play before feature films to enthuse and excite audiences in different ways.

Developed in response to wider public interest in artists’ film, and a convergence between the worlds of visual art and cinema in recent years, with the success of films by visual artists such as Steve McQueen (Hunger) and Sam Taylor-Wood (Nowhere Boy), The Artists Cinema travels from the art house to more mainstream cinemas. The 2006 edition previously screened in front of widely released film titles such as Borat, Casino Royale, Notes on a Scandal, The Lives of Others, Miss Potter, Pan’s Labyrinth and This is England.

The Artists Cinema follows two previous LUX-ICO commissioning projects – A Movie (2005) produced with Spacex, Film London and South  West Screen was viewed by an audience of 40,000; and The Artists Cinema (2006) with Frieze Projects which commissioned and toured new films by Phil Collins, Mark Leckey, Manon De Boer, Yang Fudong, Apitchatpong Weerasethakul, Miguel Calderón, Imogen Stidworthy, Jimmy Robert, Bonnie Camplin, Daria Martin and Mika Taanila reaching audiences of over 100,000 people in cinemas UK wide.

Confirmed cinemas for the 2010 Artists Cinema screening commissions include (more TBA):

BIRMINGHAM – MAC
BRIGHTON – Cinecity, Duke of Yorks
BRISTOL – Arnolfini
CARDIGAN – Theatr Mwldan
CANTERBURY – Gulbenkian Cinema
CARDIFF – Chapter
CHICHESTER – New Park
DALSTON – Rio Cinema
DARTINGTON – Arts
DERBY – Quad
DUMFRIES – Robert Burns Theatre
GLASGOW – Glasgow Film Theatre
INVERNESS – Eden Court
LANCASTER – Dukes
LEICESTER – Phoenix Square
LONDON – Rio, Dalston
LONDON – Tate Modern
LUDLOW – Assembly Rooms
MANCHESTER – Cornerhouse
NORTHAMPTON – Forum
NOTTINGHAM, Broadway
PRESTATYN – Scala Cinema
SAFFRON WALDEN – Saffron Screen
SALISBURY – Arts Centre
SHEFFIELD – Showroom
STOCKTON-ON-TEES – Arc
STOKE – Film Theatre
STREET – Strode Theatre
TAVISTOCK – The Wharf
TEWKESBURY – Roses Theatre